Policy on ground handling deferred

NEW DELHI: The new ‘ground handling policy’, which was being opposed tooth and nail by private airlines, is likely to be deferred by six months. Sources tell us that the Civil Aviation Ministry has already moved a Cabinet note seeking permission to advance the date of implementation of this policy from January one 2009 by six months. Some modifications have also been sought “in the scope of work” sources added.

Could this mean extension of list which can henceforth operate ground handling services and inclusion of private airlines in some part of this process.

The present policy seeks to eliminate all but three parties from ground handling: airport operator or a joint venture; subsidiaries of Nacil or its joint ventures; and service providers selected through competitive bidding. It would have covered metropolitan airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Private airlines had earlier asked the government for permission to partly retain ground handling facilities even after the new policy comes into effect to avoid revenue loss.
Ground handling work has two basic parts —- passenger handling at the landside and ramp handling that includes loading and unloading of aircraft and aircraft handling.

The airlines wanted to retain ground handling activities at least till the customer checks in.

Under the policy, functions such as loading, unloading and delivery of baggage from the aircraft; cabin cleaning; delivery of passengers from terminal to tarmac and vice-versa —-all of these would go out of the private airlines’ purview.

Then, the private airlines were none too happy with the fact that some of these services would, in fact, land with the Air India staff.

“Not only would costs escalate because of the restrictions on ground handling by our staff, but we are also worried about the level of customer service an Air India or any private handler’s employee would be able to provide to our customers,” said a senior official of one of the private airlines.

Another pointed out that this policy would deprive them of all consumer interface before passengers board their flights. The airlines have staff and equipment at the metro airports that would go idle if all ground-handling is done by a third party.
They are also upset with the likely cost escalation. Already, these airlines claim cost escalation of up to 10 times at international airports such as Cochin and Bangalore, where private parties conduct ground-handling services.
b_sindhu@dnaindia.net